A. Yes, If you pour a cup of water on your deck and it’s absorbs the water, it is ready. If it beads up wait a bit longer. That can be as soon as a few months to as long as six months +. Erroring on the side of too soon than too late will always be to the benefit your deck. It will never hurt it to be too soon. Too late and U.V. damage, water damage via hydrolysis, cupping, and checking are probable.

A. Yes, if the proper prepping is done. That will be determined by what existing finish is on there now.

1. First, always know what’s been put on it in the past and what your putting on now!

2. Read the SDS sheets and know what’s in the product!

• Cotton ball. Gather together a cotton ball, and a little rubbing alcohol. Dampen the cotton ball with the alcohol, and begin to wipe it along the woodwork. If, after the alcohol has dried, the wood stain is a little lighter in color, then you know that the stain is water based. Oil based stains really don't react to alcohol at all.

•  Goo-Gone. Purchase a bottle of Goo-Gone or any other similar cleaner, and place a little bit of it on an old clean rag. With the rag in hand, begin to wipe down the wood stain. After a while, if you notice the rag getting dirty with the stain, and the wood is becoming a lighter color, you know that you have an oil based stain. Cleansers such as Goo-Gone only really work in this manner on oil based stains, and the water based ones are not harmed in any way.

• Take and scratch hard with your fingernail. If old finish comes up under nail and you can see bare wood behind it's likely oil based and our Sundance stain should work well with if even if not completely removed. You will need to stick with a similar color unless all of old finish is removed.

A.    Since SWSS is a penetrating oil based sealer it works best the more porous the wood is. It’s fabulous on first time sealing of old and new wood. If your deck and or cedar or log home have been previously stained-sealed the goal would be to remove the old finish as much as possible by power washing, stripping, and or sanding. Even a brand new deck should be lightly power-washed to remove mill glaze.

Typically most sealants on the markets fail after one or two years. If the prior stain-sealer was oil based, leftover remnants of the old finish should be fine and blend in if you choose a wood tone in the same color range, *provided it didn’t have linseed oil in it. In that case, a sanding of the entire floor is advisable if other cleaning attempts are unsuccessful, as linseed oil typically leaves sheened patchy areas. Generally, removal of the old finish on the spindles is not necessary unless they have real heavy discoloration or drippy runs from the old finish (typically because of linseed oil). The goal is to have a uniform natural finish.

If you have previously applied a water based semi-transparent stain-sealer that is fading away it should be fine to apply. However, you don’t want to apply over any left over sheened finishes from prior applications and should sand those areas out. Those are typically from a water emulsified glycol ester base.

A. The prepping of the deck is the most important of the steps to have a good outcome with any stain-sealer. Our product is very easy to work with and reapplication requires little prepping, just a good cleaning. Unfortunately there are a lot of products on the market that are very problematic to prep to reapply on subsequent applications. *Linseed oil is one of the worst culprits and should be avoided at all cost.

First, it is organic made from the flax plant and a fertilizer/ food for mold that will grow from under the linseed oil finish. Second, it creates a hardened sheened finish leaving a blotchy impermeable patchy area that makes it impossible to penetrate and reapply without leaving an even worse look than before.

Because you'll be applying (stacking) more on top of an already patchy darkened areas that didn't come off from the prior application, the prepping, no mater how extreme probably won’t remove it all and it's going to look “not so good”.

If by some way you get most of it off you can use our SWSS:)

If not, your only solution maybe to now have a uniform finish will be to use a solid body acrylic ( painted look) to cover the mess:(

A. That will be determined by what was put on it before and how much is left from the prior applications.

Applying a deck cleaner solution will be a good start but not always necessary if your are skilled with a power-washer. Less is better if it works!  If extremely moldy and dirty using a cleaner solution will enable you to not have to get as close requiring less skill to remove the oxidation and mold with the PW. Make sure any deck cleaner does not contain any sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) in it which is used for stripping and extremely harsh on wood often requiring sanding.. A solution that contains sodium percarbonate (oxygenic bleach) and some TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) is best!

Use of oxalic acid is used to remove tannins on cedar and redwood and is the neutralizer to correct ph on wood after stripping a deck with sodium hydroxide.

Regular bleach is a bit harsh on any wood and not advised unless you have a heavy mold infestation. Use of a garden pump sprayer to apply the cleaner solution first, then scrubbing it with a deck brush out of a 5 gallon buck will work well. Be sure to rinse, rinse well all surrounding areas! If you are not experienced with a power-washer and it’s never been stained this may be where you consider applying the stain. However, if there is still a lot of oxidation, mold, and old finish, power-washing is the next step and or sanding.

If you have used our product in the past, you will not have to go past a light scrubbing and or light power-washing at the most!☺One of the reasons our product is popular!

Power washing after applying the cleaner solution is the most effective way to clean a deck and will get it to where it will accept our product well.

Care should be given to never put burn marks in the wood with a PW as it can damage the wood if not done with the proper technique. A sweeping level motion without stopping pushing off the dirt, mold, and hopefully old finish is the goal. Pending the size of the PW will determine how close and how fast that motion is. Pay attention to what you're doing to the wood. Typically the sweet spot for cleaning is 4 to 6 inches away with a 3500 PSI or greater power-washer. Using a white tip (40 degree) is best. When you PW keep track of where you are as when the wood is wet it’s easy to skip over areas and miss them. Like taking off and landing a plane. Don’t stop the motion of the wand until you get at the end of the stroke and pull up immediately. Keep the wand tip perpendicular to the wood so as not to splitter it and keep level as putting the pressure to it.

A. Stripping a deck is doable if oil based and problematic if water based.

However, it is difficult and best left to a professional as the right chemicals have to be use in the proper way. Sodium Hydroxide in most strippers is dangerous to work with and great care must be taken to work with it. Using it stripping will typically negatively effect the wood often leaving it fuzzy and care should be taken to make sure the wood is chemicals neutralized and ends up with the correct ph. The reality is sanding is almost a given behind it, so sanding may be the preferred way skipping the stripping all together since sanding will probably be required anyways.

A. If the wood has some insignificant leftover remnants of the old finish after the cleaning is properly done, SWSS should work fine without sanding, provided it didn’t have linseed oil in it if oil-based and if it‘s not still shiny if water-based.

In those cases, a sanding of the affected areas is advisable if other cleaning attempts are unsuccessful and stripping is not performed. Generally sanding of the spindles are not necessary unless they have real heavy discoloration or drippy runs from the old finish. Our product will cover a lot of the imperfection but the better it penetrates the better.

To achieve a uniform finish you’ll want to sand any build up, blotchy, and or opaque areas. If you elect to strip with chemicals it will take its toll on the wood and sanding is to be expected.

All sanding should be done with an orbital sander with 80 grit paper. Do not use a belt sander. If sanding off prints do not over grind as you will create a light spot. The product will cover any slight ink spot left so don’t over do it.

If sanding use an orbital sander, not a belt sander with 80 grit paper. If sanding off prints do not over grind as you will create a light spot.

Erring on the side of sanding pronounced unsightly areas is always a good step leading to a great outcome the first time around prepping for our product!

You may be limited to a similar color if there is any significant amount of old finish left.

A. NO! Once you’ve done the proper prepping and removal of any old finish all you’ll need to do with ours in the future is a good cleaning before reapplication. Any left over stain will blend right in.

A. Generally 150 to 250 SQFT per gallon pending on the porosity of the wood.

A. The product is very easy and forgiving to work with. It can be applied in a variety of ways. Hand brushing, hand rolling, and spaying are all workable. If spraying always back roll behind.

A pole brush works well on cracks if hand brushing. When using a pole roller take care not to roll too fast as you will spatter the stain and for that reason take care if rolling near a wall.

Use of a plush ¾ to one inch roller cover is advised. Purdy makes a Purdy Colossus roller cover that works well. Compact 4 to 6 inch mini rollers and or a wool painter's mitt work well on spindles.

A. At the minimum you’ll want to place sheathing (plastic or tarps under the deck and the surrounding perimeter to protect against any dripping from applying product. Our

stain-sealer does drip easily but generously saturating the wood well one time may cause some of it to happen.

If spraying you’ll want to tape, clip, and or staple plastic (1-2 mil ) to cover all walls above and below deck.

A. Always do the verticals railing/ post first and the horizontals (flats/floor) last.

A. No!

This is a one application product and you will want to fully saturated the wood the first and one time. Back rolling should leave it wet and looking like a painted surface initially. As the product starts to cure into the wood it will take on the semi-transparent look it will end up with.

On very rare occasions if the deck is very porous from age and you observe it looks very dry later in the day you may not have not fully saturated it and a second application will be advised in those areas only. Over application will cause issues for you, as it will not cure into wood and lay on top with possible tracking and unevenness resulting.

Advice is to let it run its course in curing before even considering touching up what you perceive as light areas. Chances are the light areas you think need more product are areas of the wood absorbing at different rates. Knot holes will show drying first. Areas that get an excessive amount of sun will dry first. You may not want to apply as much product up closer to the house that has been in the shade and may require some wiping if you over applied. You don’t want to play whack-a-mole going behind you application with a brush constantly touching up. It will end up with a uniform finish once it cures out!

A. Once the sealant is applied to dry wood it immediately penetrates and will repel water. Rain will only present a problem if it occurs heavily while the sealant has just been applied. As long as the deck has been back-rolled and the deck has 2-3 hours to set up the following rain should not present a problem.

A. Typically you can carefully walk on it the next day avoiding any damp areas.

If any areas are still wet you should wipe any excess product off. You should be able to put your furniture back on and walk freely within 48 hours. If applied inside a screened in porch give it a 3rd day to be safe. As a precaution, wipe your feet on a mat for the first week before entering the house after walking on deck.

A. The wood needs to be completely dry prior to application and is best applied between 45 to 95+ degree temps.

A. This is normal. Depending on the age and porosity of your wood, it may have different degrees of sealant retention. The older the deck, the more sealant it will retain., thus the deeper tone.

All wood will lighten over the weeks to come. The amount of sun, temperature, and porosity of the wood will be the prominent factor to determine how quickly it will lighten. Uneven curing patterns will disappear over the next 30 to 60 days. At the end of the curing process you will see a completely uniform finish that will enhance and accentuate the natural grain of the wood.

A. This product is actually easy to work with!

A. When applying, always finish the board to the end. Apply one liberal generous coat of product, soaking the wood well to where it looks almost like solid paint initially. It is very important to back roll or brush after applying the one and only coat. This product is meant to penetrate the wood not lay on top, so don't over apply.

When doing the floor last you’ll need to cut in along walls with a brush first.

When applying to the flats of the deck, it's best to come back after several hours of letting it set up and soak into wood and then giving it a final back-roll which also eliminates any foot prints you may have left walking on after putting down.

The product does not dry instantly and is very forgiving. You'll have ample time (8-12 hours) to work with it before the final back roll. The product won't drip easily, but can if applied a bit heavy, so you should use plastic sheathing to cover areas under and around the deck or stonework on home.

If doing an enclosed or covered area it might be wise to add a 1/5 of mineral spirits as the pores of the wood will be tighter and the mineral spirits make it easier to penetrate. You'll definitely want to wipe any excess or wetness off the floor if it's still wet the next day.